Treating metal surface



May 31, 1938.

R. J. WEAN ET AL TREATING METAL SURFACE Originl Filed June 1,' 1954 6 Sheets-Sheet l 1 NVENTORS May 31, 1938.

R. J. WEAN ET' AL TREATING METAL SURFACE Original Filed June 1, 1934 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS 9/ z A. M

May 31, 1938. .1. WEAN ET AL TREATING METAL SURFACE e She ets-Sheet 5 Original Filed June 1, 1934 INVENTORS 6 7 4 I ,ijlllnllgg F M y 31, 1938- R. J. WEAN ET AL v 2,113,832

I TREATING METAL SURFACE Original Filed June 1, 1954 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 May 31, 1938.

J. WEAN ET AL TREATING METAL SURFACE Original Filed Jun 1, 1934 May 31, 1938.

RQJ. WEAN ET AL I TREATING METAL SURFACE Original Fi led June 1, 11934 6. Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTORS flavmond J. Wean &

Louis D. PeiK 5%,flMvM ATTORNEYS Fatented b liary-3i, i938 TREATING METAL SWAQFJ Application June 1, 193%, Serial No. 72$,db3 Renewed January 27!, 193? 7 Claims.

Our invention relates to the removal of the outer layer of scale or oxide from metal articles such as plates and billets, by means of a stream of abrasive particles.

In the working of metal, it frequently becomes desirable to clean the surfaces of the'material so as to free them from adhering layers of scale or oxide. It is an object of the present invention.

to provide for the accomplishment of this cleanmg or scale removal rapidly and economically.

Our invention takes the form of a device for continuously subjecting a plate or billet to an abrasive blast with the result that the surfaces thereof are rapidly freed from adhering scale or oxide. In accordance with our invention, we prefer to employ centrifugal force for delivering the abrasive material to the work and, particularly, a revolving wheel such as disclosed and claimed in the U. S. Patent No. 1,953,566 to Louis D. Peik. For a complete understanding of our invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment, to-

Figure 5 is a. transverse sectional view through a still further form of the invention; 35 Figure 6 is a sectional view along the ime VIVI of Figure 5;

Figure '7 is a horizontal, sectional view along the line VIIV1I of FigureS showing parts in elevation; 40 Figure 8 is a diagrammatic plan view showing one arrangement of the apparatus;

Figure 9 is a sectional view taken in the plane oi the abrasive throwing wheel along line 9-9 of- Fig. 10; and

45 Figure 10 is a transverse section taken along line itit of Fig. 9.

Referring now in detail to the drawings and for the moment to Figures 1 and 2, our invention comprises a housing it composed of sheet metal so walls ii assembled on a structural, framework it. The housing it is closed on all sides but has end openings for receiving plates iii and billets it. These articles are adapted to be delivered to the housing by means of roll conveyors i5 and lba. 55 The conveyor rolls within the housing may be (Ci. Sl

journaled in bearings carried thereby. -The external rolls may be supported in bearings, not shown, in any desired manner.

Shafts it are journaled in the housing'and are adapted to be driven in any convenient way, for g example, by motors having chain belt driving connections with the shafts. Each of the shafts carries one or more wheels ill, such as disclosed and claimed in the above mentioned patent.

The abrasive throwing wheel as disclosed in 1a the patent to Louis D. Peik No. 1,953,566, comprises generally a disc db having a hubitl wherebyit is mounted on a shaft it. The wheel may be'closed by a disc or ring it concentric with the disc at having interposed throwing segments M in forming the discharge passages for the abradant. The wheel may be assembled by means of screws 5%.

The wheel has a central cylindrical opening at and a stationary member 52, held on a ring- 20 like support ht extending into this'opening. The support 53 is provided with slots bi to accommodate bolts Elli so that by loosening the bolts the member 52 can be rotatably adjusted, thereby changing its orientation. The innermost end of member 52 has an opening at through which there projects an impeller 51 carried by the disc 46. The impeller bl is provided with radial blades 5% which serve to feed abrasive particles to the wheel. The abradant is supplied in the first instance through a tube 59 and discharged through a central opening 60 in the member 52 into an impeller. chamber 6i. The chamber has a peripheral outlet at, one face of which is formed by an extension of the surface 52 and the other of which is formed by a filler block t l held in place by screws $5. The peripheral length of the opening 63 may be varied by using filler blocks of difierent sizes, as indicated in Fig. 9. The central container or control cage with its impeller blades 58 serves to discharge the abradant material at a uniform rate through the wheel. The direction of rotation of the head is indicated by arrow B. in Fig. 9 and it will be observed that the discharge opening for the central container ex- 5 tends forwardly and outwardly with respect to such direction of rotation.

The abradant which. is fed through the opening it in the central container is received by the passages it constituting the spaces between the adjacent wheel segments it. These passages may extend outwardly and rearwa rdly with respect to the direction of rotation and terminate adjacent the periphery of the wheel in radially extending Damages W. The rearward faces of the passages 63 (considering the direction of rotation) are provided with impact plates 63 having abrasive-resisting impact surfaces I0. Such surfaces may be of an exceedingly hard material, such. as tungsten carbide or other wear-resisting material.

In the above wheel the orientation of the discharge zone may be readily controlled by adjusting the orientation of the discharge passage 63, and the size of the zone may be readily controlled by adjusting the peripheral length of such passage. The edges of the zone are quite sharply defined so that surface blasting may be carried on accurately and successfully over such zone and maximum efliciency obtained from the abradant. The speed and character of the surface blasting effected may be varied by changing the speed of the wheel and by the size and character of the abradant employed.

Abrasive material is delivered to the firing wheels'from a hopper it through conduits I9 and headers 20. Conduits 2| extend from the headers 20 to the axial inlet port of each of the wheels. Screw conveyors (not shown) move .the abrasive through the headers.

As shown in Figure 2, the abrasive blast when thrown by the wheels II, impinges either on the under surface of the plates I3 or the upper surfaces of the billets I3. As described in the Peik patent referred to above, the orientation of the abrasive blast or stream may be controlled by suitable orientation of the discharge passage in the normally stationary container. Thus the wheels I! may be made to discharge streams either upwardly against the plate I3 or downwardly against the billets I I. The controlled stream of abrasive thrown by the wheel can be directed to impinge either the plates I3 or the billets II by suitably orienting the discharge passage 63 in the control container 3|. By driving the wheels I! at high speed, a very effective cleaning blast is provided which rapidly removes layers of scale or oxide from the: plates or billets.

The lower portion of the housing I II is formed into hopper shape, as shown at 22, and the abrasive particles collected therein are delivered by a screw conveyor 23 to an elevator 24, which may conveniently be of the bucket lift type. The elevator 2| returns the abrasive material to the hopper I8 by means of a spout 25.

In order to clean all surfaces of the plates and billets by use of the apparatus shown in Figures 1 and 2, it is obviously necessary to reverse the articles on the conveyors I3 and I5. An arrangement whereby this can conveniently be efl'ected is shown in Figure 8. From this figure, it will be observed that the housing I0 is disposed between an approach conveyor table 26 and a runout conveyor table 21. Associated with the latter is a mechanism indicated at 23 for turning the billets and plates for a second passage through the housing. -The turning mechanism may be of any desired character. Separate approach and run-out conveyors may be provided for plates and billets, or a single set of tables instead, with means for diverting the different classes .of material along the respective paths through the housing III.

Figures 3 and 4 illustrate a similar apparatus which is adapted to clean both sides of a plate in one operation. A portion of the apparatus shown in Figure 3 is substantially the same as that of Figures 1 and 2 and the parts are indicated by the same reference numerals. As to the remainder of the apparatus of Figure 3, the parts there are designated by the same numbers as lower and upper surfaces cleaned respectively by abrasive particles discharged thereagainst from wheels I1 and "a respectively. Billets passing through the housings on .the conveyor I5a may have their upper surfaces cleaned as in the case of Figures 1 and 2. The abrasive'particles discharged by the wheels I'Ia are collected in a hopper portion 22a of the housing Illa and delivered by a screw conveyor 23a to an elevator 24a. The elevator 24a discharges to a header 20a which supplies conduits 2Ia extending therefrom to the inlet ports of the wheels I'Ia.

Itwill be obvious that by adding a second unit, as shown in Figure 3, to the apparatus of Figures 1 and 2, the simultaneous cleaning of both sides of the plates is easily possible; Billets require a second passage, as 'in the simpler-form of the apparatus, but this can readily be provided after reversing billets on the conveyor, as shown in Figure 8.

A slightly different form of apparatus intended for simultaneously cleaning the four sides of billets of rectangular section, is shown in Figures 5, 6, and 7. This apparatus comprises a roll table 30 havingguides 3| therealong for passing billets such as that shown at 32 through a housing 33, where they are subjected ,to the abrasive action of high velocity streams of particles directed at the four sides thereof. Entry and exit openings in the housing 33 are provided at 34 and 35.

Rubber curtains 36 guard against the outflow of v abrasive particles through these openings.

A plurality of wheels 31 are carried on shafts 'journaled on suitable bearings, for 'delivering streams of abrasive particles against the four sides of the billet 32. The various wheels have individual driving motors 38 with chain belt driving connections 39 to the wheel shafts.

The abrasive delivered to the billets is collected after discharge from the wheels and impinging on the work, in hoppers 40 below the top and bottom wheels 31. It will benoted that there is a horizontally disposed wheel substantially in vertical alinement with each of the vertically disposed wheels. The abrasive collecting in the' hoppers 40 is removed therefrom by screw con-'- veyors I and elevators 42, whence .it is returned to the wheels through supply conduits 43 and connections such as shown in Figures 1 through 4.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description that our invention provides for the cleaning of metal articles such as plates and billets, in a very effective manner, with great rapidity and at very low cost. The apparatus shown is not costly to construct and can easily be built to have a long life. The type of wheel employed, as explained in the patent before mentioned, confines the abrasive material to the work and prevents.

2,1 iaesa accommodated by using more or fewer wheels/ properly spaced. The efiect of the blast of abrasive material is to polish the metal surfaces as well as merely to clean them. The speed of travel of the material may be increased by using a plurality of wheels in line to get a repetitive cleaning or abrading action. The abrasive material is collected and re us'ed. It is also prevented from escaping from the enclosing housing. Any injurious efiect on workmen in the vicinity is thereby avoided.

While we have illustrated anddescribed herein but one preferred embodiment of the invention with certain modifications therein, it will be apparent that numerous changes in the construction and apparatus disclosed may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for cleaning fiat pieces of metal or billets comprising a housing, a conveyor for moving elongated metal therethrough, abrasive throwing wheels mounted in the housing for rotation, said wheels being spaced apart across the width of the conveyor and along the path of ma-' terial moving therealong, and a billet conveyor on the opposite side of the wheels from the firstmentioned conveyor, said billet conveyor being adapted to support billets with one diagonal plane substantially vertical while being moved.

2. Apparatus for treating metal surfaces'comprising a housing, a first conveyor for passing sheet metal through said housing, a second conveyor for passing billets through said housing, said conveyors being disposed substantially parallel, and means for projecting a stream of abrasive. said means including a centrifugal abrasive throwing wheel mounted in said housing between said conveyors, and means associated with said wheel for selectively controlling the-direction of fl ht of the abrasive for impingement either against a sheet on said first conveyor or against a billet on said second conveyor.

3. Apparatus for treating metal surfaces comprising a housing, a first conveyor for passing sheet metal through said housing, a second conveyor for passing billets through said housing, said conveyors being disposed substantially parallel, a centrifugal abrasive throwing wheel mounted in said housing between said conveyors, said wheel having means associated therewith for selectively controlling the direction of flight oi the abrasive either against one face of a sheet on said first conveyor or against a billet on said sec= nd conveyor, and a second centrifugal abrasive throwing wheel mounted on the opposite side of said first conveyor and adapted to project a stream of abrasive against the other face of said sheet.- 1

4. Apparatus for treating metal surfaces comprising a conveyor for passing sheet metal along a predetermined path, means including a second conveyor for passing a plurality of billets simultaneously along a path substantially parallel to a sheet on said first conveyor, and a plurality of centrifugal abrasive throwing wheels mounted between said conveyors and mutually offset in a direction transversely of said conveyors, said wheels having means associated therewith for selectively controlling the direction of flight of the abrasive either against a sheet on said first conveyor or against billets on said second conveyor, said wheels being positioned to project abrasive in streams which combine to sweep substantially the entire width of a sheet on said first conveyor.

5. Apparatus for cleaning sheets or billets, comprising a first conveyor for advancingsheets along a predetermined path, a centrifugal abrasive throwing wheel mounted in'position to project a stream of abrasive against a sheet on said conveyor, and a second conveyor on the opposite side of said wheel from the first conveyor, said and having means associated therewith for controlling the direction of flight of the abrasive, whereby it impinges simultaneously against billets on both of said conveyors.

7. Apparatus for treating metal billets including a plurality of conveyors adapted to convey a plurality of billets along spaced, parallel paths,

means including a centrifugal abrasive throwing wheel for projecting a stream of abrasive against one of the billets, means including a second centrifugal abrasive throwing wheel for projecting a stream of abrasive against the other of the billets, and means including a third abrasive throwing wheel for projecting a stream of abrasive against both of the billets.

- RAYMOND J. WEAN'.

LQUIS D. PEEK. 

